Fuel Storage Tanks on Fire Near Port of Santos, Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO, April 2 (Reuters) – Eighty firefighters had been battling a hearth at a gasoline tank storage facility run by Ultracargo close to Brazil’s port of Santos, Latin America’s largest, the native fireplace service stated on Thursday.

The firm stated there had been no victims and the realm had been evacuated. It was too early to say what had precipitated the hearth, which was restricted to 4 tanks and was now contained, it added in an announcement.

Television footage confirmed massive plumes of black smoke and fireballs coming from the location, close to services run by Norway’s Stolt-Nielsen Ltd and Transpetro, a subsidiary of state-run oil firm Petrobras.

Transpetro stated it had quickly suspended operations and evacuated its personnel following directions from the hearth service, however that there was no threat to its facility. Stolt-Nielsen was not instantly out there for remark.

The fireplace began at round 10 a.m. native time (1300 GMT), the hearth service stated on Twitter, including that 22 fireplace vans and one boat had been concerned in making an attempt to regulate it.

The fireplace will take “a while” to place out, a hearth official advised native Globo TV. He added that up to now that they had centered on wetting down close by tanks to cease the hearth from spreading additional.

The port of Santos stated it had moved 5 ships docked at a close-by terminal as a result of fireplace.

Ultracargo is Brazil’s largest liquid bulk storage firm and is owned by Grupo Ultra. Its Santos facility shops as much as 301,300 cubic meters of fuels, chemical compounds, vegetable oils, ethanol and corrosive merchandise, the corporate’s web site stated.

Shares in Grupo Ultra had been down 2.1 % in afternoon commerce in Sao Paulo. (Reporting by Marta Nogueira, Walter Brandimarte, Stephen Eisenhammer and Gustavo Bonato; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Meredith Mazzilli and David Gregorio)